Monday, November 26, 2007

Case on gun ban in Washington, D.C., will be political fodder for next year's elections

A case that could produce a landmark decision on gun rights next year will be a major political issue in the 2008 elections, according to a story by Warren Richey in the Christian Science Monitor.

"For the first time in history we could get a definitive ruling on what the Second Amendment really means," Dave Workman, an editor at Gun Week in Bellevue, Wash., told Richey. "Gun rights is going to become a centerpiece of the 2008 presidential race, whether these guys like it or not." That could have a significant impact in rural areas, which were key to President Bush's two victories but have been trending Democratic in recent polls.

Last week, the U.S. Supreme Court announced it would consider the case of District of Columbia v. Heller, in which a federal appeals court ruled that Washington's 31-year-old ban on handguns (Associated Press photo) violated the Second Amendment because the amendment creates an individual right to own a gun, independent of any relation to the state militias mentioned in the amendment. (Read more)

No comments: